DENBIGH SCHOOL FAIR, OCTOBER, 1928

It may seem strange to hold the most exciting event of the school year in the
autumn but winter weather and spring mud were obstacles to rural assemblies in the later part
of the school calendar. This little exhibition of homespun achievements, arranged by the teachers and pupils at Denbigh, is
probably little different from similar events across Ontario a century or so ago. The activities
which kept children busy throughout the hot, sunny summer days and golden September are very
different from those which occupy children now. Reading the list of exhibitors gives a brief
glimpse of well-turned gardens, busy kitchens and basic classroom endeavors when our grandparents
were young.

Salpiglossis - Elsie Fritsch, E. Petzold
[Also known as "painted tongue" or "velvet flower", salpiglossis has small, brilliantly-coloured,
petunia-like blossoms. In Canada, it is a flower of late summer, blooming from August through to
the first frost. It is considered challenging to grow.]

Collection of Weeds - Ruth Faulk, Lucy Gregg, Isabella Presley, Madeline Dool
[A project often assigned to children was to mount a collection of weeds. The
objective was to teach them to identify plants which were deemed a nuisance to
agriculture.]

Strathcona Exercises [demonstration] - Denbigh S.S. 5 [Denbigh Village], Denbigh S.S. 2 [Vennachar]
[Once a ubiquitous part of elementary school life, these physical training exercises are
now all but forgotten. They originated with the donation in 1910 of $500,000.00 to the Government
of Canada by Lord Strathcona (Sir Donald Alexander Smith), who was then Canadian High Commissioner
in London, England. The funds were to be invested at 4% interest, and the revenue was to be spent
on developing citizenship, physical fitness and patriotism in Canadian youth. The funds were
administered by the Strathcona Trust. At that time, physical training in Canadian public schools
was an ad hoc, inconsistent endeavour, when it happened at all. Much concern was expressed over
the new "sedentary lifestyle" enjoyed by young people a hundred years ago, which might surprize
us today. In 1911, the Strathcona Trust published a sylliabus of
physical training exercises based on the Swedish system of educational gymnastics. The intension was
to raise the level of physical fitness training in elementary schools and at the same time make
it more consistent across the Dominion. The "Strathcona Exercises" were a prominent feature of
elementary physical education in Canada for nearly forty years. The Strathcona Trust is perhaps
better remembered today for its support of the Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps.]